Diary of John Quincy Adams, volume 1
1783-08-09
We Left Roye this morning about 5. o'clock and rode as far as Chantilly without Interruption. We dined at Chantilly, and I went to see the Gardens and Stables of the Prince de Condé1 to whom this Place belongs. The Stables are a fine Piece of Architecture, and every thing is in order. There are 240. horses in them, and each horse has his own manger; with his name over it. Inside of the building is this Inscription.
7 me. Prince de Condé
À fait Construire ces batimens,
Et ceux qui en dependent, commencés
en 1719, et achevés, en 1735.
The Gardens are Superb; there is a small river which runs down from above the Gardens, and furnishes all the jet d'eau's with water. There are in the Gardens several small, houses, which on the outside look like Peasants hut's, but are most elegantly furnish'd, and are beautiful inside. There is an equestrian Statue of the Connetable de Montmarenci3 in bronze, and a marble Statue of the grand Condé.4 We left Chantilly at about 4. o'clock P.M. and arrived at Paris at about 7. o'clock in the evening. The Land as I have already said is very good thro' Holland but is miserable from the entrance of the Emperor's Dominions to Antwerp, for the Space of 10 leagues, from Antwerp, to several Posts this side of Cambray; there is perhaps not better Land, nor more universally cultivated, in Europe. From thence to Paris, it is still good, but not extraordinary. The Road is as Follows.
From the Hague to Rotterdam. 3 Dutch, Hours5 which make about 12. English Miles.
From Rotterdam (after passing the Maes) to Moerdyk 6. Hours.
Passage of the Moerdyk about 3. English Miles.
From Moerdyk to —— 3 Hours.
From —— to —— 5.6
From —— to Antwerp. 5.
| Posts.7 | |||
| From Antwerp to | Mechlin | 2. | |
| Bruxelles. | 2 | 1/2 | |
| Halle. | 1 | 1/2. | |
| From Halle to | Braine le Comte | 2. | |
| 180 | |||
| Castillan |
1 | 1/2 | |
| Carignan |
1 | 1/2 | |
| Quievraing | 1 | 1/2 | |
| Valenciennes8 | 1 | 1/2. | |
| Bouchain | 2. | ||
| Cambray | 1 | 1/2 | |
| Bon-Avis |
1 | 1/2 | |
| Fins | 1 | 1/2 | |
| Peronne | 2. | ||
| Marché le Pot | 1 | 1/2 | |
| Fonches | 1. | ||
| Roye | 1. | ||
| Conchy les Pots | 1 | 1/2 | |
| Cuvilly | 1. | ||
| Gournay | 1. | ||
| Le Bois de Liheu | 1. | ||
| Chantilly | 2. | ||
| Luzarches | 1 | 1/2. | |
| Ecouen | 1 | 1/2. | |
| Saint Denys | 1. | ||
| Paris | 1. | Post Royal9 | |
In Holland there are no establish'd Posts. If a Person wants horses, he must make a private agreement for them. In the Dominions of the Emperor you pay 3. schellings, (near 2. shillings sterling) for each horse per post and commonly 2. schellings to the Guide, and in France you pay 1. Livre 5. Sols. per post for each horse, and to the Postillions commonly 15. sols, altho' their due is no more than 5.
Nouv. biog. générale;
Larousse, Grand
dictionnaire universel
).
Uur, a Dutch league, equivalent to the distance traveled in an hour. Two such
measurements were in use in Holland at this time, one, “20000 anciens pieds d'Amsterdam,”
or 3.5 English miles, and the other, “20000 pieds de Rhin,” the more likely unit, equal to
3.9 English miles (Horace Doursther, Dictionnaire universel des
poids et mesures anciens et modernes, contenant des tables des monnaies de tous les
pays, Brussels, 1840; repr., Amsterdam, 1965, p. 209–210).
In the margin: “Here you enter the Emperor's Dominions.”
In the margin: “A Post is 6. English Miles.”
In the margin: “Just before you come to Valenciennes you enter into the Dominions of the King of France.”
In the margin:
“A l'entrée et a la sortie des lieux ou le Roi fait son sejour momentanément la
premiere Poste se paye double: mais a compter seulement de l'heure Le minuit qui suit
le jour ou le Roi est arrivé, et jusqu'à minuit aprés le jour qu'il est parti.
(Ordonnance du 25. Juillet 1739.) A l'entrée et a la sortie des Villes de Paris, de Versailles et Lyon, Même pendant
l'absence du Roi, la premiere post se paye double. (Ord: des 8. Dec: 1738 et 28 Nov.
1756.)
Post Royal
Extracts from the Post Book.”
1783-08-10
This morning, at about 10 o'clock, I accompanied my Father to Passy, to see Dr. Franklin whom I knew already, and Mr. Jay, the american Minister at Madrid, whom I had never seen before; they were at breakfast and had a great deal of Company. Mr. Jay and my Father took a walk in the Garden and had a Conversation upon politicks, which, is of no Necessity here.1 From thence we went to Auteuil; to see Mr. Barclay,2 the American ConsulGeneral in France, but found he was gone, and therefore we saw only Mr. Ridley.3 The House where they are is a very fine one; but, above all there is in it, one thing, which is very curious. It is a small octogonal room with a bath in the middle of it, and in every one of the eight corners of it is a Looking-glass. The cieling, is also made of a Looking-glass; so that a person can see himself in more than thirty different positions in it. The garden is a small and pretty one filled with fruit Trees; we took a walk in it. Mr. Ridley told me that Sammy Cooper Johonnot and Ben. Bache, two of my old schoolmates here had returned from Geneva, where they have been for some time, and that Sam Cooper is gone to Nantes.
JQA probably means, as is hinted in the following entry, that at this time political discussions were of no interest to him.
Diary and
Autobiography
, 3:143–144, 171;
JCC
, 20:698; 24:3; Jefferson, Papers
, 11:496; Howard C.
Rice Jr., ed., The Adams Family in Auteuil, 1784–1785 . . .,
MHS Picturebook, Boston, 1956).
WMQ
, 3d ser., 20:95–98 [Jan. 1963]).